West Side Story (The Jets, the Sharks, and the Making of a Classic)

A captivating, richly illustrated behind-the-scenes account of a cultural moment: the making of the ground-breaking movie classic West Side Story (1961).
A major hit on Broadway, on film West Side Story became immortal. With unforgettable songs, an urgent love story, and audacious choreography, West Side Story was a movie different from anything that had come before, but this cinematic victory came at a price.
In this engrossing text, film historian Richard Barrios recounts how the film's enormous budget and complicated logistics made it a challenging production, and massive overruns in both cost and schedule led to tension between co-directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The result was Robbins being fired midway through the filming, a termination devastating to the film's fragile star, Natalie Wood.
Over nearly six decades, West Side Story has endured, past its off-screen dramas. But the story of its production and impact have been recounted only in vestiges. In the pages of this photo-filled book, the behind-the-scenes tale comes to life, along with detail on what has made the film a favorite across six decades: its brilliant use of dance; a meaningful story, as set to Leonard Bernstein's music and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics; a film with Shakespearean roots (Romeo and Juliet) that is simultaneously timeless and current. West Side Story was a triumph that appeared to be very much of its time; over the years, and especially in this text, it has shown itself to be eternal.